City Cautions Public To Shun Illegal Cheese

The Chicago Department of Health is warning people not to buy potentially harmful Mexican-style cheeses that are being sold illegally in the Hispanic community.

Homemade unmarked ``queso fresco`` cheese, wrapped only in clear plastic or waxed paper, can be bought in neighborhood stores and from street vendors at weekend flea markets such as Maxwell Street.

Because the homemade cheese is not pasteurized, and because health inspectors can`t monitor its production, consumers should not buy it, said Dr. K.P. Reddi, director of the department`s bureau of public health.

State law requires cheese manufacturers to be licensed with the state and the city so inspectors can monitor cheese processing and pasteurization. A person convicted of violating the law is subject to a fine of at least $100, a jail term, or both.

Reddi said city health inspectors check the three licensed Chicago cheese manufacturers at least twice a year. But the inspectors don`t work on weekends, when much of the sales reportedly occur.

Lack of inspection prevents health inspectors from detecting possible contamination, such as that which has been blamed for at least 35 deaths this month in California, Reddi said.

Officials have found no similar contamination in Jalisco Mexican Products Inc. cheeses sold in Chicago, Reddi said.

Although the making of ``bootleg cheeses`` is acceptable for home use, Reddi and other health officials say, the makers shouldn`t sell it to other consumers.

``If you grow up with the stuff, and you use to it, its probably no problem,`` said State Department of Public Health spokesman Chet June. ``If you sell it to someone else . . . it`s a great potential for disease.``

June said contaminated cheese can cause vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.

The danger of contamination is limited to a small portion of cheese made from contaminated milk, Reddi said. Although about 95 percent of that milk is all right, the lack of pasteurization can endanger people who eat cheese made from the other 5 percent, he said.

``I see it in many stores and in the street,`` Lala Delgado, 50, of Pilsen, said of the homemade queso fresco. ``I don`t buy it. . . . I worry about cheese that doesn`t have any brand name or marking on it. That bothers me.``

Since word of the contaminated Jalisco cheese spread through the Hispanic communtiy, unmarked queso fresco cheese has vanished from the streets, said flea market vendor Arturo Vega.

But at least one queso fresco vendor could be found on Maxwell Street Sunday, selling the waxed-paper wrapped slices of cheese out of a plain white bucket.

Alicia Garcia, 22, said she sells the chesse to earn money. Garcia said the manufacturer, an Indiana farmer whose name she couldn`t recall, distributes the cheese to other street vendors. She said she buys her cheese from those vendors and sells it at a higher price. She said she has heard the manufacturer plans to obtain a license soon.

Southeast Side resident Maria Gomez, 25, said she frequently buys the homemade queso fresco and doesn`t worry about it.

``I know how they make it, and it tastes real fresh,`` Gomez said. She added that the homemade cheese is often cheaper than store-bought cheese although many store owners interviewed said they never carried homemade queso fresco.

At Armando`s Finer Foods, 2639 S. Kedzie Ave., owner Armando Mazzei said he took all the unmarked cheese out of his dairy case after a reporter told him his store was selling it on Saturday.

Mazzei said the slices of cheese that his store sold were samples that he knew nothing about. ``I do not trust anything made in people`s homes,`` Mazzei said.

At La Villita Grocery, 1924 S. Loomis St., manager Arturo Ryes removed four stacks of unmarked slices of cheese from his dairy case when asked by a reporter what the cheese was and where his store purchased it. Ryes said that someone else had left the cheese in the case for safekeeping and that it was never intended to be sold.

Another popular cheese that is sold unmarked in the Hispanic community is cotija, an aged parmesan-style cheese.

At La Casa del Pueblo, 2610 S. Blue Island Ave., large blocks of cotija were observed for sale on top of the meat counter. The cheese was wraped in plastic bags, marked only as ``potatoes.`` A representative of the store would not comment.

Reddi said the health department is investigating reports that cotija cheese is being imported from Mexico illegally, and that a farm in Wisconsin is distributing the cheese in Chicago under the name of Jalisco.

Queso fresco and cotija sales give the public no reason to panic, Reddi said. But he warned against buying any unmarked products.